Indian start-ups deploy AI to detect potholes and get roads fixed

A man stood in the large, craggy pothole and struck a yoga pose, dubbing it “Pothole Asana”, and uploaded the photos on social media.

- Debarshi Dasgupta India Correspondent

Workers scrutinising dashcam videos at Nayan's office in Delhi as they look for potholes and other defects on roads. Nayan specialises in AI-powered road and traffic monitoring for government agencies. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA

(ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA)

“Why spend ona chiropractor when our roads offer free spinal adjustments with every ride?” he added sarcastically.The quirky protest went viral, and in less than 24 hours, the jab achieved what complaints had not in 60 days — the pothole was fixed.

Potholes have long been a blight on Indian roads. Thousands of people are maimed or killed each year, especially during flooding rains or in the dark when it is difficult to spot them. In 2023, crashes caused by potholes claimed 2,161 lives, up from 1,856 the previous year.

Indians have tried various means to fix them, ranging from painstaking court petitions to ingenious protests. Now a clutch of Indian startups are attempting something new: using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and flag potholes to the authorities for repair.

In a fourth-floor office in Delhi’s South Extension, a neighbourhood dominated by garment and jewel-lery stores, workers inspect videos on eight large television screens, crosschecking visuals flagged for potholes and other road-related problems.

This is the nerve centre of Nayan, a firm that specialises in Alpo-wered road and traffic monitoring for government agencies. The footage comes from its dashcams in vehicles plying Indian cities.

It is not alone. At least five other firms are deploying AI to get India’s shoddy roads fixed.

The Pune-based RoadBounce detects road defects for the authorities using an Al-enabled app on smartphones placed in its vehicles to record vibrations and geotag potential problem spots.